Young American Heroes

Young American Heroes, a project of Docere Palace Studios, is one of seven prototype projects funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s $20 million American History and Civics Initiative to develop multi-platform interactives that will engage youth in deepening their knowledge of history and civics. Young American Heroes takes a narrative approach, in which filmed biographical dramas about historical figures are interrupted at key decision points so that students can debate their own choices and tell their own stories. The pilot materials are focused on the life of young Frederick Douglass, and include digital story-making tools that help students imagine their way into dramatic conflicts in Douglass’ life-gathering and organizing primary and secondary sources to support their decisions. The development team on this project includes teacher educators from Fairfield University, historians from the Gilder Lehrman Institute, and the software developer EduWeb. CCT is helping conduct formative and field test studies to examine how the materials might support student history and civics knowledge and thinking skills.